What exactly did Jesus sacrifice?

Question

Well, yeah, there's the whole doctrine that he "died for everyone's sins" and so forth, so the question is, why is that such a big deal? I mean if we look at things objectively, Christ suffered for a few days, though a not-all-that uncommon punishment of the day, and ultimately, after a short while back on earth, went back to being a third of a completely divine being, gaining omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, and omnibenevolance forever. Now, really, going to that from fully human shell, doesn't seem like a horrible deal.

What alternative did he have but to die? If he was both fully human and fully divine, then the fully human part would be subject to death eventually, so then would the sacrifice of God sending his son to die being the time Jesus speant on earth?... Wouldn't it be in both God's and Jesus's best interest for him to die sooner?

I'm sure I can get some insightful response to this, as it never quite made sense to me why it was a big deal.

Answer 1

In all honesty, as a divine being, immortal, and what not, he sacrificed 33 years of an immortal life, and a little pain [in the scope of omnipotence.

So, Jesus was bored for your sins, not killed.

Answer 2

It's about the fulfillment of the Law.

If you take a look at the Bible, you basically have two parts - Law and Gospel. Law, what we shouldn't do (and some should) and what identifies our sin and Gospel, the good news about God, mainly Jesus. Both the Old and New Testaments contain it.

No regular human could ever fufill the law on His own, no matter how righteous. Prior to Christ, animal sacrifices were very common as offerings to God. The animal had to be 'perfect', free of blemishes and obvious problems. However, these sacrifices did little to atone for any of man's sins - great that they are.

So, in His great love God sent his son to be on the earth in human form. He was the perfect human, the 'lamb' that would be lead to slaughter. We basically 'paid' for Jesus and then sacrificed him, but not knowing the significance or intention at the time.

Eating the sacrifice was part of the ancient Jewish priests job. When Christians take communion, they share in the 'body of Christ', similar to feasting on the sacrifice.

So why the big deal? Because God's word was fufilled. In Isaiah and other parts of the OT, they speak of the Messiah coming. This was fufilled in Christ.

As far as dying sooner, that's an interesting point. But perhaps because of the culture of that time to be recognized as a teacher he needed a certain level of experiences......? I don't know. His few short years of ministry were very important to spreading the word.

It all comes down to love. Think of that most famous NT verse - For God so loved the world that he gave his only son....

God loves us, more than all the rejection and sin we cloak ourselves in.

Hope that helps.

Answer 3

That was a very tactful way of asking that question. I honestly appreciate that. Imagine God being in heaven though, in complete perfection, longing for the one piece of creation he loved more than any of the others--us. And in heaven He knows the only one who could even make that possible is his most beloved thing in heaven--Jesus. Now any parent could tell you that sending your son to die a terrible, terrible death is nothing short of horrible. But imagine that son being perfect and dying for the sins of EVERYONE else. That's a pretty big burden to carry. But Jesus willingly gave up everything in heaven to spend the time here on earth only to die a really crappy death, when he doesn't deserve it at all. Not many are willing to do such a thing.

Answer 4

He sacrificed His life and died for our sins. He suffered for longer that the day He was on the Cross. If you look into the Bible you will see that His life was full of suffering. You are correct, He was part of the Trinity, why would He come here and live if not for love? He had the alternative to stay in Heaven or to come to earth. He chose coming to earth for us. When He was on earth, He strictly took human form. There was no divineness then other than His dependence on God. He is Jesus, but He came here for us so that we will have a right to the Tree of Life. He didn't have to do that. May God BLess U.

Answer 5

actually it is Gods law for balance. When Satan challenged God he challenged his right to rule over mankind. Pretty much saying persons will not worship you on their own.

Since Adam sinned, (also never asked for forgiveness) had put a dent in the bread pan. As a result all persons born would be imperfect. Jesus Sacerfice balanced justice. See it was Satan, and Adam and Eve that made a choice , they thought they could do a better job in ruling that their creator.

Jesus sacerfice thus gave an opportunty for those that want to live by Gods laws, can have the same opportunity that Adam did, which was to live forever on the earth. Jesus had to prove himself so he really could not of died sooner. The issue of God having the right to rule over his creation is now being answered once and for all time. hope that helps

Answer 6

Jesus sacrificed his own life. Everything had to take place exactly the way it did to fullfill scriptures and prophecies in order to prove God's word to be true. Think about this for a moment. If you were born into this world knowing that someday you would have to die for the whole world,people you didn't even know, even for the people that killed you, would you do it? Die so that maybe these people would be saved and have eternal life(spiritually) Would you even do it for 1 person today, right now, this very moment? Besides your child or mom and dad, like someone you never met before. That's what Jesus did. It's not so horrible, it's a wonderful thing he died for our sins. It's horrible the way he had to die for us.

Answer 7

To let you know, I am not Trinitarian, I am oneness. I believe Jesus, God and the Holy Ghost are ONE AND THE SAME, not three different Gods. I am telling you this because it has to do with why I believe it is EXTREMELY important. First of all, God had to have a body so that men could see him. The Bible mentions that man can never see God. Moses only saw "the hinder parts." He, as a man, had to also be "tempted in like ways as we are" so he could overcome sin and he had to die at the time of the passover as was the Jewish custom of sacrifices. He also did many miracles while he was here and taught the disciples and many others. Also, there had to be a reason to put him to death in such a manner. I believe Jesus and God are one and the same. The reason him dying for sins is a big deal is that is the only way man can be reconciled to God. There were sacrifices every year on the passover to "roll their sins forward another year," but God coming to earth as a man redeemed them for eternity and washed away all the sins from Adam until the end of time. His blood is what washes away sin. But he had to take on sin, remember when he said, let this cup pass from me? That was symbolic of him taking on ALL sin. But his blood was spilled as a spotless lamb, just like the spotless lambs that were raised for sacrifices with the Jewish people. The lamb could only roll the sins forward, whereas, God manifesting himself in flesh could not only overcome sin, but also gain the keys to death, hell and the grave. The reason the death was so bad was because this is the penalty for sin. If you read Revelation and the white throne judgment. Those that are not in the lamb's book of life are judged according to their acts. It says that they will be beaten with "few stripes" or in another part, "many stripes." You can only be in the lamb's book of life if you are covered by the blood, in other words, baptized in Jesus' Name. He paid that penalty for you. I think you are mistaking the reason for the sacrifice. The sacrifice was not for God, it was for man. The time he spent on earth was a blessing, and in a major way, so was his death and resurrection. As for the timing, even the Bible says that God's timing is perfect. By the way, it is a big deal because we could not go to heaven if it were not for his death. I hope this answers some of your questions.

Answer 8

I think it was a very big deal because most of what you have said is not accurate. First of all, God created Jesus and everything else he created through him and for him (Colossians 1:15, 16). He was with God in heaven for untold centuries perhaps before the earth ever even came to be created. He helped God create all the angels (myriads and myriads of them). And, then they created a man ("Let US make man in OUR image"). Jesus was especially fond of this creation and God was aware of his interest. Just as a loving parent on earth would want to give his child the best of everything, God wanted Jesus to be able to interact with humans. When, however, Adam sinned and through his selfish action condemned all future humans to sin and death, a sacrifice of equal proportion was necessary. God not only had to allow his son to leave his side for a time (remember, they had never been apart) but he had to allow him to live as a lesser being, to be subject to physical and emotional pain, to be tempted and many other human things that he did not necessarily want for him to have to experience. During his lifetime, he had to remain perfect, stay humble in spite of the fact that at his baptism the heavens were opened up and he remembered his time in heaven with his Father. He was not then and is not now omni anything. He has been granted 144,000 humans (they have been bought from the earth) to live in heaven with him but he can never live on earth again. During the time that he was suffering, his Father had to watch and not intercede. That had to have been hard even for God as his love is so much more than any of us have ever experienced.

Answer 9

The punishment Jesus endured was WAY more than others who were hung on a cross. He endured a beating that would have killed many men. He wore a crown of thorns that others did not have to because they were having fun mocking Him as King of the Jews. He had the beard plucked from His face. He had a purple robe placed on His bare open bloody back and when it was ripped off so that the soldiers could gamble for it you can only imagine the pain. Not to mention He was nailed to the cross, not tied as many were.

After considering all of that do you think you would be willing to die that death for people who you knew would reject you, make fun of you, laugh in your face and totally reject the gift of your life that you unselfishly gave so that they could live? If you knew you were not guilty of the sin they were killing you for. If you knew you were dying in the place of the ones who were truly guilty. Would YOU be willing to do that even if you knew that in a few days you could live again? There's no way I could do that.

Answer 10

Before Christ, animals were routinely sacrificed. Christ, as the perfect Lamb of God was the final and eternal sacrifice meant to put an end to all the animal sacrifices and the old way of doing things. Through that act he offered all who would accept it, salvation. Read the book of Hebrews. You will find this explained very well.